The King, The Sheep and The Goats
Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together …
John 14:23-24
“Jesus said, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him.
“He who does not love Me will not obey My teaching. These words you hear are not My own; they belong to the Father who sent Me.”
And our memory refresher verse(s) for today is(are) …
John 3:16-18
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
“Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
Please open your Bibles to: Matthew 25:31-46
During the three years of Jesus’ ministry His main activities were as a Rabbi or teacher and as a prophet.
As a Rabbi He showed us the way of salvation. He showed us how our relationship with God and with other humans is supposed to be.
As a prophet He gave us some insight into the coming Kingdom when He returns.
As a teacher He often used parables.
A parable is
… a usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle …
… A simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson …
In Matthew 24 Jesus is asked about future events that will take place.
In Matthew 25 He explains with two parables.
One is about a groom and 10 virgins who are invited to a wedding banquet. These virgins are to wait for the groom’s return. He does not tell them when He is returning. But, when He does return some are ready and some are not.
The second parable is about a Master who leaves three of His servants in charge of some of His possessions for them to oversee. Two of the servants are faithful and the third is unfaithful.
In both of these parables there are those who are faithful and ready for the return of the master and there are those who are unfaithful. In both of these parables there are those who are prepared and those who are unprepared.
In the parable of the groom and the virgins, the return of the groom is a pivotal event followed by judgment. If a virgin is ready when the groom returns she is rewarded. If a virgin is not ready she is rejected and unable to change her status after that point.
In the parable of the Master and the servants, the return of the Master is a pivotal event followed by judgment. If a servant has been faithful to his Master he is rewarded, however, if the servant has been unfaithful to his Master he is punished and unable change his status after that point.
Jesus then uses these two parables to jump off into a prophecy about the judgment that will take place when He returns.
With that in mind let’s read from God’s Word: Matthew 25:31-46
May God bless the reading of His Word! (Prayer for help)
This passage is NOT a parable. The only sense in which it could possibly be considered a parable is in the sense that those who are eternally lost are referred to as goats and those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus are referred to as sheep.
It is important to Jesus that we do not mistake this for a story from which we are to draw some spiritual principle. This is THE Judgment!
Just listen to Jesus in verse 31
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne.”
Just this verse is amazing!
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory …”
The disciples have seen a tiny glimpse of Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man!
When Jesus is saying this He is in His lowly human form and the prophet Isaiah says it was not a glorious presence but a simple, humble form.
Isaiah 53:2b says,
“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.”
And yet they knew His great power, His great Holiness.
And, even with what they HAD seen it would be nothing compared to when He comes in His glory!!!
“… and all the angels with Him …”
I don’t think we can wrap our heads around this one!
The apostle John says in the Revelation of Jesus Christ 5:11
“Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.”
Do you know that 10,000 x 10,000 is 100,000,000?
“… and all the angels with Him …”??????
“… He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory …”
This scene is beyond my comprehension.
Over 100,000,000 angels
And then add to that all of humanity who have ever lived and there are over 7 billion alive now ..
“All the nations will be gathered before Him …”
I am trying to imagine the joy of this event and the dread of this event.
There will be amazing joy among those who belong to Jesus and know it!
And … there will be terrifying dread among those who have rejected Jesus and THEY know it!!
NO ONE THERE WILL BE UNCERTAIN AS TO THEIR STATUS!
No one will stand there saying, “Excuse me Jesus, but should I be on the right or the left.”
In the presence of Jesus, the Son of Man, the King, the Judge there will be no ambiguity, no second guessing and no switching sides!
Everyone there will know whether they belong to Christ or whether they have rejected Him!
“…and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats …”
Now remember, this Jesus, who is sitting on His glorious throne surrounded by at least 100,000,000 angels, is the One who judges men’s hearts and does not judge by their outward appearance.
It goes on to say in verse 33,
“He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.”
The Bible does not tell us how this all takes place.
What will it be like to literally stand in the presence of the Son of Man, the King of Kings, the Judge??? What will that be like???
Will all of those who have rejected Christ just naturally gravitate to the left of Jesus with their souls convicting them of their choices?
Will all of those who are in Christ, who have become a new creation through faith in Jesus, will they just naturally gravitate to the right of Jesus with the peace of God flowing in their souls?
The Bible represents the right hand as:
- The hand or arm of strength
- A place of honor for a guest at a meal
I don’t know if this is anything or not but think about this …
When Christ the King separates the righteous ones to His right I am sure they will come about to face Him. When they do that, where will Jesus be in relation to them? He will be on their right.
He will be in the place of strength and honor. He will be where He belongs!
He will be on their right because they have honored Him with their lives.
They will be on His right because He has called them to salvation and they have responded to His call.
Conversely, when Christ the King separates the unrighteous ones to His left I am sure they will come about to face Him. When they do that, where will Jesus be in relation to them? He will be on their left. The place of the left is the place of second choices at best and the place of total disregard at worst. They will be on His left because He has called them to salvation and they have neglected or outright rejected His call.
For both the sheep and the goats Jesus the King pronounces judgment and then goes through a list of things they have done or have not done “for the least of these”.
OK. Now, this is VERY important. It is critical that this Scripture is not read upside down. I do not mean that you cannot read it standing on your head; what I mean is that you cannot draw the conclusion that the sheep are sheep because of what they have done and the goats are goats because of what they have failed to do.
A sheep is not a sheep because of what it does. A sheep is a sheep and a sheep does what a sheep does.
A goat is not a goat because of what it does. A goat is a goat and a goat does what a goat does.
A sheep will do sheep things and a goat will do goat things.
And a person who is in Christ is a new creation!
2 Corinthians 5:17 says,
“If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come.”
If an old goat comes to Christ for salvation he is miraculously transformed from a goat into a sheep and he now behaves like a sheep because he is a sheep and he no longer behaves like a goat because he is no longer a goat!
If an unrighteous person comes to Christ for salvation he is miraculously transformed from an unrighteous person to a child of God and he no longer behaves like an enemy of God because he is no longer an enemy of God but, instead, he is a child of God and so he behaves like a child of God; he is in Christ!
Can a person act like a Christian and not be a child of God in Christ?
Absolutely.
But … Jesus is not in the business of behavior modification.
Jesus is in the business of soul transformation.
Have you been transformed by the power of Jesus? Are you living the life of a true child of God or are you just going through the motions; like a goat acting like a sheep?
The fact is that on the Day of the Lord when Jesus returns and the nations are gathered before Him we will instantly know if we should move to His left with the unrighteous or to His right with those who love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.
Finally … all of us know, right here, right now, what our eternal destiny would be; to the left of Christ with those who have rejected Him or to the right with those who have responded to Jesus’ call to repentance and salvation.
We all know many, many people in our families, in our work places or schools, in our neighborhoods who do not know the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ alone.
Where will they be on the Day of The Lord, the Day of Judgment, with the sheep or with the goats?
Where will you be; with the sheep or the goats?
I urge you to pursue the Lord with all of you heart!
If you are already a child of God, pursue Him with all of your heart so that you may be a benefit to the Kingdom of God here on earth.
Pursue Him so that you can be instrumental in bringing others to Jesus.
If you are not a child of God but still living in rebellion to Him I urge you to pursue God until you find Him.
This is an Old Testament promise but it is still as true today as it was then…
Jeremiah 29:12-14a
“‘You will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD.”
This is the starting point of everyone who stands at the right of Jesus on the Day of the Great Judgment.
(Final thoughts and prayer)
